May 15, 2017

25 things I learned from writing full-time for 5 years

Photo by Royce Daniel

It's been 5 years already since I started writing. Wow. I can't believe it. I have started writing my first trilogy, Siren Suicides, on May 15th 2012. Since then I've written and self-published the before-mentioned trilogy (and republished it later as one book, Siren Suicides: Second Edition), stand-alone novels Rosehead, Irkadura and The Badlings, and two books of tweets, Blue Sparrow and Blue Sparrow 2. I'm currently in the process of finishing my new novel TUBE (the one I started writing during the Amtrak residency) and plotting my first thriller (so excited!!!) The Dacha Murders, with 15 more novels outlined and waiting their turn (among them Dogwood, the sequel to Rosehead). Oh, and I have a bunch of short stories that may comprise a whole book by the end of 2017 (or beginning of 2018).

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May 14, 2017

10 tips on turning your book writing into a business

by Ksenia Anske

Illustration by Chow Hon Lam

After writing full-time for five years and making intermittent sales (they would happen randomly, without my understanding of why at that particular moment, and why that particular book), I finally got fed up with being poor and have told you (or rather, screamed at you from various Internet roofs) that I'll be treating my book writing as a business from now on. Starting tomorrow, to be exact. Because tomorrow, on May 15th, it will be exactly five years since I began writing the first draft of my first trilogy, Siren Suicides. Many of you have asked what I meant by this, some have misunderstood that I'll be betraying my past mantras (like concentrating on the craft and letting your readers sell for you), and some have cheered me on with the rightful, "FINALLY." Yeah, finally.

So, why now?

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May 11, 2017

Wyatt's fantasy novel: A BREATH OF JUSTICE

by Ksenia Anske

Art by MrHarp

It seems we're breeding writing talent here, in our Loony Bin (it's how we like to call our house). Royce's 19-year-old son Wyatt, who is graduating from high school this summer, has started writing his first fantasy novel, and it's got everything to become big and epic, dwarves and elves and magic and murder and...well, here is the opening of the first chapter, and Wyatt said he's cool with you commenting on his Google Doc and giving him feedback. He wants to finish it. At the moments the story is almost at 5K words. I encourage you to encourage him to keep writing. We need more art in this world, more stories, more compassion. Here it is, for your enjoyment. (Up next a post on how I plan to reactivate my business muscles to sell more books, and what writing full-time for 5 years has taught me).

A BREATH OF JUSTICE

A novel by Wyatt Daniel

Chapter One, opening

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May 5, 2017

A very angry post: Am I making enough of a difference?

by Ksenia Anske

Drawing by Anna Hammer

I'm angry because it doesn't seem like I'm doing enough, for myself and for those whom I love and for the world (which is actually a step-up from feeling miserable, as anger usually spurs me to action). Why am I feeling this way? Because of two things.

One, I just finished reading When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, and two, I got on Twitter and got sucked into reading news about GOP's vote on replacing Obamacare with the new healthcare law which will neglect those who have preexisting health conditions, those who are poor, and those who are old, and will create tax breaks for the rich. This is what I glimpsed without diving deeply into it and spending time on understanding what the hell is going on, so don't take my word for it and read it for yourself. And this is why it made me angry.

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May 1, 2017

I'm embarking on a new crusade: SELLING MORE BOOKS

by Ksenia Anske

Illustration by Ruben Ireland

That is my armor. Imma red, bloody bird. Fear me! *cackles*

Well, actually, this whole crusade thing is not new but rather forgotten. I've gone full circle from firmly believing that to make money writing books you have to sell them (when I started writing five years ago, fresh from working on my start-up and surviving by selling my product to everyone left and right) to believing that well-written books will sell themselves (when about two years ago I retreated from selling into learning the writing craft) to finally believing again that no matter how well-written your book is, if you don't make an effort to sell it, it will linger in all its well-writtedness in obscurity. And yes, in two weeks, on May 15th, it'll be five years since I started writing full-time. And yes, I'll write a post on 25 things I learned from writing full-time for five years. But this is in two weeks. Right now I'm preoccupied with this realization that self-publishing is a lot like having a small business. What do you have to do to survive? Sell. What happens if you don't sell? You perish.

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